Cylinder bearers for rotary printing presses



Nov. 22, 1955 H. P. SCHMIDT CYLINDER BEARERS FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESSES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. I5, 1953 INVENTOR.

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Nov. 22, 1955 H. P. SCHMIDT 2,724,331

CYLINDER BEARERS FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESSES Filed Sept. 3, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

M j) m4 2,724,331 Patented Nov. 22, 1955 CYLINDER BEARERS FOR ROTARYPRINTIN G PRESSES t P. Schmidt, Jackson Heights, N. Y., assignor to H. H. Heinrich, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York, and Windmoeller & Hoelscher Company,

Westsalen, Germany t Application September 3, 1953, Serial No. 378,235

11 Claims. (Cl. 101-416) In rotary flexographic printing presses the rubber printing plates are very sensitive to variations of pressure thereon by the impression cylinder. Ifthe said plates exert too much pressure they become distorted and thus effect adversely the character of the printing produced thereby. i

The object of my invention is to insure clean and even printing impressions by providing the opposite ends of one ofthe printing cylinders, with yielding bearers in rolling contact with the other cylinder, means being provided for adjusting one of the cylinders as for instance the plate cylinder toward the other cylinder to bring the plates up to their proper printing position and to also bodily move the yielding bearers radially to cause them to exert suflicient pressure on the plate cylinder to prevent vibration of the cylinders and to maintain the said plates in said proper printing position, said yielding bearers rotating independently of their cylinder.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, applied to a rotary fiexographic printing press.

Fig. 1 represents a plan view partly in section, of that portion of a rotary flexographic printing press which includes my invention:

Fig. 2 represents a side elevation partly in section, of the same; and, Fig. 3 represents a detail section, through one of the yielding bearers, taken in the plane of the line, III-I1I of Fig. 1.

The side frames 1 of the, press serve to rotatably mount the shaft 2 of the impression cylinder 3 in a fixed position.

Side brackets 4 project from the side frames 1 and serve to slidably support the auxiliary side frames 5, which rotatably mount the shaft 6 of the plate cylinder 7. These auxiliary frames slidably support the auxiliary side frames 8, which rotatably mount the shaft 9 of the ink transfer cylinder 10 and the shaft 11 of the ink fountain roll 12 and its fountain 13.

These auxiliary side frames 8 are shown as adjustable along the auxiliary side frames 5 by the usual adjusting screws 14. The auxiliary side frames 5 are shown as adjustable along the sidebrackets 4 by the usual adjusting screws 15. t

A flexographic plate 16 is shown as located on the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 7, and may be brought into its proper printing position by the manipulation of the adjusting screws 15. The ink transfer roll 10, the ink fountain roll 12 and its fountain 13 may be adjusted as a unit toward and away from the plate cylinder 7 by the said adjusting screws 14.

All of the above described elements may be of well known or approved construction and may be driven at their proper rotative speeds by means not shown herein.

The means which I have shown for eliminating the vibration of the plate and impression cylinders includes the following elements: At the ends of the impression cylinder 3, in the present instance, anti-friction bearings 17 are mounted on the impression cylinder shaft 2. One

t or more resilient rings 18, as rubber rings, surround both ofthe anti-friction bearings 17. Bearer rings 19 of rigid material, as metal, surround and are mounted on the resilient rings 18 to independently rotate therewith on said antifriction bearings. These bearer rings normally contact the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder upon both sides of the printing plate 16.

In practice, the plate cylinder 7 is moved toward the impression cylinder 3 sufiiciently to bring the bearer rings 19 into rolling contact with the said plate cylinder 7, thus bringing the printing plate 16 into its approximate proper printing position. The plate cylinder is thenadjusted a sufiicient distance toward the impression cylinder to bring the printing plates into their proper printing position, thereby moving the bearers bodily a sufficient distance to compress the resilient rings 18 to cause the bearers to exert the proper pressure on the plate cylinder to insure its rigidity under printing. conditions and thus prevent vibration of said cylinders. It will therefore be seen that slight movement of the bearer rings is permitted by the yielding of the resilient rings 18 which arelocated between the bearer rings 19 and the anti-friction bearings 17. It will also be noted that the bearer rings when not concentric with the axis of the impression cylinder shaft, will be allowed to freely rotate on the anti-friction bearings independently of the rotation of the impression cylinders so as not to disturb the rolling contact of the bearer rings on the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder.

While I have shown the yielding bearers as mounted at the ends of the impression cylinder, it is obvious that they may be mounted at the ends of the plate cylinder in rolling contact with the impression cylinder.

The efficiency of structures embodying my invention is increased by making the movable bearer of such size that pre-ioading same by longitudinal movement as described above will place it in the proper printing relationship with its companion cylinder.

It is evident that various changes may be made in construction, form and arrangement of the several elements without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, hence I do not wish to be limited to the particular structure shown and described herein.

What I claim is:

1. In a rotary printing press, a plate cylinder, an impression cylinder and bodily yielding bearers at the opposite ends of one cylinder in rolling contact with the other cylinder and being freely rotatable independently of their cylinder.

2. In a rotary printing press, a plate cylinder, an impression cylinder, and bodily yielding bearers at the opposite ends of the impression cylinder in rolling contact with the plate cylinder and being freely rotatable independently of their impression cylinder.

3. In a rotary printing press, a movably mounted plate cylinder, a fixedly mounted impression cylinder, and bodily yielding bearers at the opposite ends of one cylinder in rolling contact with the other cylinder and being freely rotatable independently of their cylinder.

4. In a rotary printing press, a movably mounted plate cylinder, a fixedly mounted impression cylinder, and bed ily yielding bearers at the opposite ends of the impression cylinder in rolling contact with the plate cylinder and being freely rotatable independently of their impression cylinder.

5. In a rotary printing press, a plate cylinder, an impression cylinder, and bodily yielding bearers at the opposite ends of one cylinder in rolling contact with the other cylinder and being freely rotatable independently of their cylinder, said bearers each including an anti-friction hear ing, one or more rings of resilient material and a bearer ring of rigid material.

6. in a rotary printing press, a plate cylinder, an impression cylinder, and bodily yielding bearers at the opposite ends of one cylinder in contact with the other ing the anti-friction bearing and a bearer ring of rigid material surrounding the one or more resilient rings.

7. In-a rotary printing press, a plate cylinder, an impression cylinder, and bodily yielding bearers at the opposite ends of the impression cylinder in rolling contact with the plate cylinder and being freely rotatable independently of their impression cylinder, said bearers each including an anti-friction bearing, one or more rings of resilient material surrounding the anti-friction bearing, and abearer ring of rigid material surrounding the one or more resilient rings.

8. In a rotary printing press, a movably mounted plate cylinder, a fixedly mounted impression cylinder, and bodily yielding bearers at the opposite ends of the impression cylinder in rolling contact with the plate cylinder and being freely rotatable independently of their impression cylinder, said bearers each including an anti-friction hearing, one or more rings of resilient material surrounding the anti-friction bearing, and a bearer ring of rigid material surrounding the one or more resilient rings.

9. In a rotary printing press, a plate cylinder, a plate thereon, an impression cylinder, bodily yielding bearers at the opposite ends of one cylinder in rolling contact with the other cylinder and being freely rotatable independently 'of their cylinder, and means for adjusting one of the cylinders toward the other cylinder to bring the plate into proper printing register and to cause the bearers to exert sufiicient pressure to eliminate vibration of the cylinders.

10. in a rotary printing press, a plate cylinder, a plate thereon, an impression cylinder bodily yielding bearers at the opposite ends of the impression cylinder in rolling contact with the plate cylinder, and means for adjusting one of the cylinders toward the other cylinder to bring the plate into proper printing register and to cause the bearers to exert sufficient pressure on the plate cylinder to eliminate vibration of the cylinders, said bearers being mounted to freely rotate independently of their impression cylinder.

11. in a rotary printing press, a movably mounted plate cylinder, a plate thereon, a fixedly mounted impression cylinder, its shaft, bodily yielding bearers at the opposite ends of the impression cylinder in rolling contact With V the plate cylinder, and means for'adjusting the plate cylinder toward the impression cylinder to bring the plate into proper printing register and to cause the bearers to exert sutficient pressure on the plate cylinder to eliminate vibra tion of the cylinders, said bearers being mounted to freely rotate independently of their impression cylinder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

